Erasmus+ project. Migration in 1918-1940

Migration after the First World War

Audrius Vrubliauskas, Viktorija Lešaitė, Ašrinė Danilevičiūtė, Lithuania; Felix Holtmann, Amire Berisha, Germany; , Isabel Pap, Lise Willemsens The Netherlands; Alba Deari, Angela Ivanovska North Macedonia.

Number of people: - about 1 Million immigrants(after 1918) - about 8 Million former soldiers(until 1922) - about 1 Million Germans from separate territories(until 1922) Reason: peace treaties - forced migration - resettlement - flight - forced labour - work Countries: - France/Alsac-Lorraine(120.000/1920) - former German colonies(16.000) - Poland - Russia(600.000/1923)

Number of peopleReasonCountries peole immigrated from300.000 Refugee Belgium 102.000 Work, in housekeeping and as a nurse Jewish refugee Germany 20.000 22.000 Refugee (Jewish) Austria/Germany 6000 Work, especially mining Poland 2700 Work Italy

The period between the 1918 and 1940 wasn’t the best for the country. After the fall of the Ottoman Empire, Macedonia was divided between her neighboring countries: Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria. Most of today’s territory was then known as ‘’ Southern Serbia’’. After the First World War, Serbia became a part of the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, which in later years will be known as the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. It was around this period that a lot of people immigrated to our country. Specifically in 1919 the majority of immigrant families came from Serbia and populated the northern parts of Macedonia because of the close proximity with the country from which the Serbian colonists came from. 339,094 Greeks arrived in Greek Macedonia from Anatolia.

Emigration

Period 1918 – 1940

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• In 1926-1937 more than 78,000 emigrated from Lithuania:

1. Brazil - more than 34,000;
2. Argentina - more than 16,000;
3. South Africa - more than 5,000;
4. Also: Canada, USA and Palestine.

(Also don't forget the fact, that there are about 650 thousand Lithuanians living in America due to old times.)

• People emigrated from Lithuania because of economic and political reasons as well as almost everyone wanted a better life.

Those who left their homeland (Lithuania) were mostly representatives of left-wing organizations, but a group of Lithuanian priests managed to establish parishes, churches and schools. According to the number of emigrants under proportional statistics, Lithuania is one of the winners in Europe countries.

• About 500,000 people fled or were driven from the area controlled by the National Socialists after 1933, a rather insignificant number compared with other modern migrations. Around 360,000 of these were from Germany itself and another 140,000 from Austria after the annexation of 1938.

• Why and who?

• Workers in the German economy
• Economic crisis and inflation
• "Fear" of the Nazis
• Decision of the South Tyroleans to emigrate to Germany
• fascist dream of the Mediterranean
• Hope for a better future
• Prisoners of War after WW 1
• Bolshevik Civil War in Russia

• Where?

• Germany
• Overseas
• Neighboring countries of Germany and USA
• Germany
• Libyen
• US
• Germany
• Central Europe but also Asia (China)

• In November 1914, there were still 323,000 Belgian refugees in the Netherlands; by the end of December the number had fallen to 200,000, and in May 1915 only 105,000 remained. This last group stayed in the Netherlands for the duration of the war. In total, there were about 140,000 refugees - Belgian as well as German, Russian and French refugees – in the beginning of 1915. This number increased to 210,000 in 1918 mainly due to the arrival of non-Belgian refugees.

• 1820 to 1940. More than 250,000 emigrants left the Netherlands and migrated to North America, Indonesia, Africa, and the West Indies. Many of these emigrants were from the provinces of Friesland and Gelderland. Most settled in Iowa, Michigan, and Wisconsin.

• About 900,000 of the one million Belgian refugees that came, however, returned within a few weeks. In addition to the Belgians there were about 100,000 other refugees in the Netherlands during the war. The Dutch pride themselves on the support that was provided – with some justification – and seem to have forgotten the complaints, protests, and the soft pressure that was applied to push most of the refugees out after a few weeks only.

Macedonia is part of Balkan. It borders Kosovo, Albania, Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia. It is precisely this geographical position that has made it the center of oppression from neighboring countries. In the territory of Macedonia from ancient times to the present day there have been powerful emigrations. Macedonia is one of the most dynamic countries in the Balkans in terms of migration. After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, almost before the First World War, Macedonia was divided into 3 parts and the people that lived in the Macedonian territory were under the rule of Serbia, Bulgaria and Greece. 1 Moreover, this period of occupations, uprisings, riots, affected the immigration of the people living in the territory of Macedonia. Mass displacements began earlier in 1912 to Turkey. This immigration to Turkey lasted en masse until 1940. According to political plans, a total of 40,000 families had to be relocated. The implementation of this plan was thwarted by World War II, which began in 1939. Knowing that the inhabitants of the Upper Reka belong to the Orthodox and Muslim religions, both emigration and assimilation have occurred regardless of religious affiliation, i.e. Muslims have immigrated to Turkey while the Orthodox immigrated to Serbia, Bulgaria and Greece.2 For the period between 1918 and 1940 there is very little historical and statistical data about the events in the territory of Macedonia and especially with the emigration of the people. It is surprising that historical facts in between the two world wars in Macedonia almost did not exist, given that in the territory of Macedonia was inhabitant by different ethnicities, i.e. Macedonian, Albanian, Turkish, Bosnian, Serbian, Bulgarian, Vlach, etc. There are different opinions and views about people’s fate according to their political and ethnic interests. By 1938, approximately 4,046 Albanian families had immigrated to Albania. In Anatolia in the period 1939-1940, 10,000 families immigrated. They have also immigrated to European countries such as Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Austria, and Romania.3 Between 1878 and 1920, about 300,000 Macedonians immigrated to Bulgaria.4  In the period between the two world wars, a considerable number of immigrants from western Macedonia have immigrated to the big cities of the Balkans, such as Belgrade, Sofia and Budapest, etc. In this period, the number of Vlachs in Macedonia has significantly decreased. Some of them have moved to Romania and some to Greece.5 The Macedonian people have immigrated to European countries as well as to more distant places such as Australia and America. In addition to various political and ethnic pressures, one of the main reasons for emigration were the economic issues. Due to the various political influences of neighboring countries, wars, riots, uprisings, invasions, the economic situation of the people who lived in the territory of Macedonia has been quite deteriorated and migrations accrued for a better life.